FFRF ensures no preaching visitors allowed on New Hampshire school property

August 1, 2013

Thanks to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a woman who prayed aloud and promoted her religion daily at a New Hampshire high school will no longer be allowed to do so.

A concerned resident of the Concord, New Hampshire school district contacted FFRF about the woman, who loudly prayed on the steps of Concord High School and held her hands toward students to pray over them as they were entering the school. Additionally, she recited bible verses out loud for at least 15 minutes each day at the entrance to the school—all with the approval of the school's principal.

On July 2, FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert contacted Concord School District Superintendent Christine Rath. Markert asked her to stop allowing the woman to pray on school property each day.

"Such an environment is not conducive to educating young minds and may even appear hostile to those who disagree with a third party's message," Markert wrote.

The precedent set by permitting this woman's antics on school property is chilling, Markert wrote.

"Allowing adults, not facilitated by or through school personnel, to enter school property during the school-day to interact with children is shocking," Markert wrote. "With tragedies at school and parents' appropriate worry over adult contact with children, it is incredible that the District would allow this practice

Rath responded to FFRF on July 12 that the woman will no longer be allowed to pray on Concord School District property.

FFRF is a national non-profit headquartered in Madison, Wis., with 19,000 members nation-wide that works to promote the separation of state and church.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational charity, is the nation's largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), and has been working since 1978 to keep religion and government separate.